Cambridge Youth Council

The Cambridge Youth Council (CYC) is a diverse group of high school students dedicated to improving the lives of young people through social justice, education, and community building. In addition, they represent the youth of Cambridge and provide our City leaders with valuable feedback.

CYC was featured on Channel 5’s Chronicle (2015-16)  (http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/whiz-kids-making-a-difference/37540888)

Annual Traditions

Incoming 9th Grade Information Night

CYC collaborates with CRLS STARs and the Mentoring Program by participating in the Incoming Freshman Information Night at CRLS. CYC members share advice on how to start off high school strong.

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• Food Drive: Before the pandemic, CYC helped organize the MLK Food Drive with Many Helping Hands. CYC members publicized the event, recruited volunteers, and each year collected about 400 bags of food that were delivered to food pantries throughout Cambridge.

• Fundraiser: In 2020, CYC started an annual fundraiser with the CRLS BSU. Each year they raise money for nonprofits in Cambridge. The Cambridge Community matches us to $5,000.

National League of Cities Youth Delegates 

CYC members represent the City of Cambridge at the National League of Cities Conference in Washington DC. They spend their time working with youth delegates from around the country to explore solutions to city issues. During the conference they learn from other youth councils about what issues they are facing as well as share what they have been working on. One of the highlights is  getting to know their Cambridge city councilors and department heads.

(CYC could not go to Washington DC in 2021 and 2022 due to COVID, but they are resuming the trip in 2023.)

Support the Community

• CYC has participated in many focus groups to provide youth voice:

  • Cambridge Public Schools

    • Extending the length of the school day

    • Nellie Mae Building Equity Bridges grant

  • Public Health Department

  • Envision Cambridge

• Helped the Middle School Network with their Summer Planning and Placement workshops at the Upper Schools and Amigos  

• Helped plan and facilitate Be All Right event at CRLS

• Volunteer for Many Helping Hands Day of Service and Community Walk

Connecting with communities by attending

• Massachusetts Women’s Conference and met with other youth groups across the state.

• Sparkshare summits to meet and share best practices, success, and project ideas with youth councils in the greater Boston area to share best practices and successes.

• Dignity in Schools meetings

• Biden Transition Team meetings

Projects and Achievements

CYC Website

CYC created a website that explains to keep the community informed about CYC. www.cambridgeyouthcouncil.org

Cambridge Raw Perspectives 

In 2015 CYC created Cambridge Raw Perspectives. It is an evolving social media campaign on Instagram and Facebook which includes regular postings regarding what CYC and other groups are working on. They also use it as a platform for students to share their thoughts whether it be through answering a poll question or directly sharing their thoughts. For more information, check out:

Cambridge Raw Perspectives (@cmb_raw) • Instagram photos and videos

https://www.facebook.com/cambridgerawperspectives/

2019-present 

Mental Health

• Creating mental health campaign: Youth Headspace

• Developed a mental health workshop for 9th grade health classes at CRLS

• Creating a How to Reach Youth brochure for adults

• Advocating for free menstrual products in buildings throughout the city

Free MBTA Passes for High School Students

• In 2017, CYC successfully advocated for funding to provide free bus passes for students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch at CRLS. $250,000 was added to the City budget to pay for the free MBTA M7 cards.

• In 2021, they ask the City to expand the program to all high school students. Starting in September 2022, all high school students attending CRLS, High School Extension Program, Community Charter School of Cambridge, Prospect Hill Academy can receive M7 cards.

Vote 16

CYC worked with other groups advocating to lower the voting age so 16-year olds can vote in municipal elections. They also spoke at public comment at the state house and encouraged the City Council to pass a home rule position to lower the voting age.

Youth-Only Pre-Election Discussion

Organized a Zoom event for youth across the city of Cambridge to discuss the election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. They reviewed the policy platform for each candidate as well as a brief overview of the electoral college. 

2016-2018

Books for Success!

In an effort to close the opportunity gap, CYC held a test prep book drive and collected enough books to set up a “library” in the school’s College and Career Resource Center. They set up a system for students to borrow these books rather than spending a lot of money purchasing them. 

Update: The “library” was disbanded after a couple of years due to inactivity.

Microaggressions in the Classroom at CRLS

Developed a survey about student experiences of microaggressions in the classroom and approached the administration to talk about how microaggressions were reported and the follow-up that should happen. They had several meetings which culminated with a new reporting mechanism and a promise by administration that follow up would happen in a timely manner. CYC also spoke at several School Committee meetings in support of the Black Student Union’s efforts to bring awareness to the mistreatment of black students in the classroom and their demand that change occur. 

FAFSA Scholarship Workshops

CYC members worked with Emily Singer from the Office of College Success to help make sure all seniors fill out the FAFSA form so that more students get financial assistance. 

What does CP, Honors, AP and Leveling Up mean?

CYC created a document that explains what Honors, College Prep, Level Up, and Advanced Classes mean. This one page information sheet was translated into different languages in hopes this will help inform families that normally have a difficult time receiving this information.  

Amending the AV10 Policy at CRLS

CYC proposed an amendment to the AV10 (Attendance Violation with a 10 percent grade reduction penalty) policy at CRLS. The current system penalized students the same for being 1 minute late or 20 minutes late. They believe a minute system should be implemented, which means the number of minutes you are late would be recorded. If a student had 12 unexcused tardies their grade in the class goes down by one grade (A to B, B- to C-, etc.). They concluded that students should be able to “buy” back time with their teachers. They advocated to the CRLS administration and the School Committee for this policy change.

2012-15

Community Workshops Addressing Racism

CYC planned a series of workshops throughout the school year. All the workshops were well-attended by many students and adult supporters. 

• Race and Police: Through a structured conversation break down barriers between youth and police and help foster positive relationships between the 2 groups.

• Race and Media: By raising awareness of how race is portrayed in the media, CYC’s goal was to validate participants' personal experiences and give them the tools and skills to combat messages in the media. They recommended starting a I AM TOO campaign at CRLS, but it did not happen. 

• Race and Education: By raising awareness about race and education, we will jump start a discussion resulting in action steps. Some of the ideas included:

  • Posse - Create a support group for incoming 9th graders so they can travel through high school together.

  • High school students should be able to help 8th graders pick classes.

  • 8th grade teachers should not have complete control over classes students will be taking in high school.

Ballin in the Bridge

CYC organized an event at Sennott park. They had a food truck and organized a basketball game - youth vs. police officers. It was attended by many young people and adult supporters.

Supporting Middle School Students Transition to High School

Worked with middle school students to help them with their transition to high school, understand what to expect when they get there, and how to get involved and engaged.

• Attended events in the city to reach out to middle school students and provide them with information.  

• Prepared and presented a series of interactive workshops at several after school programs in Cambridge to help middle school students be prepared for their transition to high school. Workshops included icebreakers, activities, debriefs, advice and Q & A sessions. The focus was on developing important skills (including decision making, responsibility, not giving into peer pressure, advocating for oneself, study and socializing skills), share the benefit of certain attitudes (i.e. trying new things, staying and remaining optimistic, academic motivation) and inform middle school students of the opportunities and resources that can be taken advantage of to make high school and life after a huge success.

• Created informational videos to give their advice and answer the most frequently asked questions and used Facebook to engage with future high school students.

• Expanded their Facebook campaign to reach more members of the Cambridge community, including middle school students and their families by:

  • Get to Know YIS - A series of questions answered by YIS members each week.  

  • Posted links to interesting articles, pictures and videos about education and resources at the high school, so that students can feel better informed. 

  • Created and posted videos answering questions about high school. 

• Mentoring Program Y2Y: CYC wanted to help middle school students transition to high school smoothly by designing a mentoring program with a series of workshops. Outcome: CYC developed the curriculum and recruited high school mentors; however, it was challenging to find middle school students who wanted to be mentees. 

Relationships Between High School Students and Teachers

Focused on improving student-teacher communications and helping students build relationships with their teachers, so that students can be in charge of their success and feel confident in their academic abilities. First, they surveyed students and teachers to get a sense of how students advocate and communicate with teachers. Then they created prompt cards that had suggestions on how to start talking to teachers in various situations: to check in, to improve and to prepare for an upcoming test. The prompt cards took two forms: a large, laminated poster to hang in classrooms and a small quarter-size page for students to take with them. 

CYC asked teachers to hand out cards to students and hang up posters. They continued to revisit classrooms to remind them about the cards and posters. They also distributed flyers with resources that support students at a number of events. 

Family Engagement 

Worked with Heather Weiss and the Harvard Family Research Project on family engagement issues.  The Harvard Family Research Project is using what they have learned to further their work on family engagement.  

Created a presentation based on their perspectives of family engagement and presented their findings to the Family Policy Council, Cambridge School Committee, and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School Council. 

Global Family Research Project Blog (August 2017)

Youth Taking Leading Roles: Defining and Improving Family Engagement